The Transport Safety Commission

About the Commission

Commission Co-chairs

Sir Peter Bottomley – Member of Parliament for Worthing West (Conservative)

Professor Stephen Glaister CBE – Director RAC Foundation

Commission Members

Sir Peter Bottomley MP

Member of Parliament for Worthing West (Conservative)

House of Commons

Co-Chair

Professor Stephen Glaister CBE

Director

RAC Foundation

Co-Chair

John Abbott

Director of National Programmes

Rail Safety & Standards Board (RSSB)

Professor Richard Allsop OBE

Emeritus Professor Transport Studies

University College London (UCL)

Jeanne Breen OBE

Principal

Jeanne Breen Consulting

(resigned 19/03/15)

Nicola Christie

Director of the Centre for Transport Studies

University College London (UCL)

Kate Carpenter

Divisional Director (Traffic and Safety)

Jacobs /The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation

Suzette Davenport

Chief Constable

Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)

Dr Rob Hunter

Head of Flight Safety

British Air-Line Pilots Association (BALPA)

Dr Julian Huppert MP

Member of Parliament for Cambridge (Liberal Democrat)

House of Commons

Professor Mike Kelly

Director of the Centre for Public Health

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Keith Conradi

Chief Investigator

Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB)

Dr David Pencheon

Director

Sustainable Development Unit, NHS England and Public Health England

Barry Sheerman MP

Member of Parliament for Huddersfield (Labour/Co-operative)

House of Commons

Jason Torrance

Policy Director

Sustrans

Ben Johnson

Senior Delivery Planning Manager, Road Safety

Transport for London (TfL)

The Commission

The role of the Transport Safety Commission is to inquire into transport safety matters in order to assist with the development of policies that will reduce risk and bring about continued reduction in transport-related casualties. The Commission is an independent body with 16 members drawn from the UK Parliament and from the air, rail and road safety professions and related sectors. It is co-chaired by Sir Peter Bottomley MP and Professor Stephen Glaister. The inquiry had been made possible by generous donations from the Safer Roads Foundation and the Rees Jeffrey’s Road Fund. PACTS provides the secretariat.

Background to the Commission

In October 2008, the House of Commons Transport Select Committee called for the establishment of ‘an authoritative and independent road safety commission’ [Report HC 460, para 132]. The Government did not take up the recommendation. PACTS is pleased to do now so.

Announcing the establishment of the Transport Safety Commission in March 2013 (here), Barry Sheerman MP, Chairman and founding member of PACTS, said: “I am delighted to announce that PACTS will be launching a Transport Safety Commission. This will be a high level body with MPs, Peers and independent experts. The commission model has worked very successfully in other areas of public policy and I am confident that it will be equally successful for transport safety. Establishing a Commission is a move that PACTS has been considering for some time.”

The Commission is an independent body. PACTS provides the secretariat.

Further information

UK Transport Safety Inquiry

UK Transport Safety: Who is Responsible?

The Inquiry

The Commission inquiredinto the legal framework and institutional responsibilities for transport safety (road, rail and aviation). The aim was to compare and contrast the different responsibilities and accountabilities for transport safety with reference to identified international good practice, to highlight strengths and weaknesses of current approaches and determine whether or not lessons can be identified and transferable from one mode to another. The inquiry is now concluded and the Commission is grateful to all who contributed.

The press release for the inquiry UK Transport Safety: Who is responsible is now available here.

The report is available to download here. If you would like a hard copy, please contact admin.PACTS@pacts.org.uk with your contact details.

The response of current Roads Minister, Andrew Jones MP, to the report UK Transport Safety: Who is responsible is now available here.

PACTS:

About us:

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) is a registered charity. It supports the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety - PACTS.

Its charitable objective is "To protect human life through the promotion of transport safety for the public benefit". Its aim is to advise and inform members of the House of Commons and of the House of Lords on air, rail and road safety issues.

Supporters of the Decade of Action for Road Safety:

This is not an official website of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. APPGs are informal groups of members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in these webpages are those of the group.